The sale of Tavistock Wealth to Titan Wealth has qualified for substantial shareholding exemption (SSE), saving wealth manager and Financial Planner Tavistock Investments from paying £7m in tax on the sale.

The four exemptions of the SSE mean the transaction is not subject to UK corporation tax.

As a result Tavistock Investments will avoid a tax charge on the £40m it received in cash for the shares in its multi asset arm Tavistock Wealth, according to a statement to the stock exchange this morning.

According to Tavistock, without the exemption, the transaction might have given rise to a tax charge of approximately £7m.

The statement, in advance of the firm’s Annual General Meeting later this morning, added that the firm’s unaudited management accounts indicate that its net asset value per share has risen from 2.59p at 31 March to 8.5p at 31 August as a consequence of the completion of the sale of Tavistock Wealth and the recent buy-back and cancellation of 4.75% of the firm's issued shares.

The wealth manager and Financial Planner completed the sale of its multi asset arm to Titan Wealth Holdings at the end of August.  

TWL will now be renamed as Titan Asset Management with John Leiper continuing in his role as chief investment officer.

In June Tavistock Investments announced a 10-year strategic partnership with Titan with Titan acquiring TWL for up to £40m in cash, together with a ten-year earn out.

Tavistock's shareholders gave their approval for the transaction on 23 July. The Financial Conduct Authority granted change in control approval on 9 August.

Titan Wealth is a new investment firm co-founded recently by Andrew Fearon, a key figure at rapidly growing Financial Planning group Independent Wealth Planners (IWP).

Mr Fearon is a founder shareholder and director of IWP where he is responsible for M&A.

Under the terms of the deal, Tavistock will act as Titan’s “retail distribution partner.”

Tavistock says it hopes the partnership will enable it to expand its wealth management faster, both organically and through acquisitions.

Titan acquired Tavistock Wealth for up to £40m with £20m paid on completion of the deal, and a further £20m paid in equal annual instalments over the following 3 years, linked to the maintenance of Tavistock Wealth's revenues.